Science Fiction from the (so-called) Third World [wiscon panel]

Don't let me mess around and figure out how to put music on this joint--it will be all ovah then! What I'm listening to this morning is Zap Mama's "Gbo Mata [Station]" and this baaaad version of Lauryn Hill singing "Change Is Gonna Come." Hey now!

Okay, as you know, I recently returned form WisCon 30, the world's leading feminist science fiction convention held annually in Madison. For their 30th anniversary, they invited back many of their previous Guests of Honor, including Samuel R. Delany, Ursula K. Le Guin, Vonda McIntyre, Pamela Sargent, Nalo Hopkinson, Kate Wilhelm, Jane Yolen, Suzy McKee Charnas, etc.

I had a great time and posted on this somewhere. Laura Quilter has begun a new-in-progress wiki page on a kick ass panel I participated in, "Science Fiction from the (so-called) Third World" moderated by Nalo Hopkinson and featuring Andrea Hairston (MINDSCAPE), Nnedimma Okorafor-Mbachu (ZAHRAH THE WINDSEEKER), and myself (DARK MATTER). Tea Hvala of Slovenia was scheduled to join us, but she got cold feet at the last minute and chose to contribute from the floor. She made an interesting comment that Eastern Europe could be considerd 'Third World.' I'm looking forward to getting her rec's on folk to read-in-translation if possible.

More here on the panel. The wiki page is rough but covers good ground....


Science Fiction from the (so-called) Third World Wiscon panel

And here is, "On the Importance of Imaginative Literature," an article by author Vandanna Singh (also a contributor to SO LONG BEEN DREAMING: POST-COLONIAL SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY edited by Nalo Hopkinson and Uppinder Mehan).